


The Joyful Swing

by zarabithia



Category: Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: F/F, Fix-it fic, Request Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 11:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/978095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassie came back. Going apple picking is a perfectly natural way to celebrate that victory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Joyful Swing

“You’re absolutely resisting the urge to make a comment about shooting an apple off of somebody’s head right now, aren’t you?” Cassie asks, and Kate doesn’t have to look down at her shoulder to see the smirk on Cassie’s face.

But she does anyway, because she can now. Fourteen months, two weeks, and five days after losing Cassie, she can now turn her head and see her best friend smirking up at her from the comfortable spot she’s claimed on Kate’s shoulder.

To her credit, the only outward display of _omgIgotyouback_ that she displays this time is the joyful swing of the basket she’s supposed to be putting apples into.

“You can’t take an archer to an apple orchard and expect her to be able to resist some cliches,” Kate answers.

The smirk only grows, and it looks really out of place for someone who used to be the baby of the team. “You’ve never actually been to an apple orchard, have you?”

“All of our apples were hand selected by our cook,” Kate answers, and she has a momentarily twinge of nostalgia as she remembers taking pies down to the shelter with her mom.

“So that’s a no.” Cassie readjusts her stance on Kate’s shoulder, so that she’s sitting instead of standing. It’s just as well - they  
aren’t going anywhere at the moment, and Kate will take all of the lazy conversations beneath an apple tree with her best friend over the bad apple pies that her team is probably going to end up making. “Dad grew up in Florida, and so did Aunt Peggy. They both got used to picking fresh citrus fruit, and Dad used to say that since the best New York could do was apples, we’d have to settle for those. It kind of became a tradition.”

Kate plucks off an apple that looks like it is begging to be dipped in a nice, hot vat of caramel, and places it in the basket. It’s hard to do so without moving her left shoulder, but those amazing archer shoulder muscles also come with amazing archer control. “So I’m assuming that this nostalgia trip is at least partially about your dad being clingy and halfway to driving you batty since you came back?”

There’s a sigh that sends a warm gust of breath across Kate’s cheek, and Kate ignores the conflicting way that makes her feel in order to pluck off a nice apple that is begging to be chopped up and mixed liberally with chicken and mayonnaise.

“It’s hard to get him to see that I’m not a baby anymore,” Cassie explains finally, and Kate tries not to laugh, because recognizing  
that Cassie isn’t 14 anymore isn’t really something that she’s had trouble with since Cassie came back.

“Not everybody adjusts well to change as well as your awesome teammates,” Kate answers instead, because it keeps her cover.

Or maybe it doesn’t, because Cassie says, “It would be unfair to expect him to adjust as well as you have, wouldn’t it?” before kissing Kate’s earlobe. Kate carefully considers how that kiss would feel with Cassie at her proper size, before plucking another apple off the tree.


End file.
